Mia Wasikowska wowed as Alice in Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland and now takes on another titular role in a new adaptation of Jane Eyre, which is released in cinemas on Friday, September 9. The actress talks about bringing a freshness to the iconic role, striving for physical perfection and what she thinks of being described as an old soul.

By Susan Griffin.

Mia Wasikowska may hail from sunny Canberra but the Australian actress is happiest in colder climes. That's an advantage considering she spent the first two days of the Jane Eyre shoot trudging through torrential rain in the Derbyshire moors.

"It was so cold, I think I got hypothermia on the second day of shooting but I'm a winter creature, so I liked it," says a smiling Wasikowska, who, in keeping with the wintry theme is wearing a tweed dress, despite it being summer.

Her pale, slim frame and blonde bob serve to enhance an icy aesthetic but the wide-set brown eyes exude a warmth and wisdom that leaves you understanding why directors have described her as an old soul. "That's a real compliment," she says.

Following a critically acclaimed performance in the title role of Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland, the 20-year-old is riding high.

Now, she turns her hand to English literature's most enduring female protagonist, Jane Eyre, a girl who the author Charlotte Bronte saw as 'a heroine as plain and small as myself'.

There have so far been 18 feature films and nine TV adaptations of Bronte's novel, so you may wonder if it's necessary to roll out another version, but Wasikowska believes there's room for one more.

"I would hope so," she says in a thoughtful, softly spoken voice.

"When you look at films from years ago, beautiful as those films are, everything's so much bigger and theatrical. I was excited about bringing her back in a context that was more grounded," she says, adding that fate may have played a hand in her winning the role.

"I started reading the book in 2009. I was halfway through the novel when I emailed my agent and asked if there was a project planned, because I thought it would be an incredible role to play," she explains.

The immediate response was negative but just two months later, her agent emailed over a script.

"I met with Cary [Fukunaga, the director] and found we shared similar ideas," says Wasikowska.

This is a darker, more gothic adaptation of the 19th century tale, in which a teenage girl arrives to work as a governess at isolated Thornfield Hall, and meets the brooding Edward Rochester (Fish Tank's Michael Fassbender).

"What I love about her character is, despite all the hardship she faces throughout her life, she has this innate sense of self-respect and an incredible ability to do what's right by herself as an individual," says Wasikowska.

She believes it's the reader's empathy for Jane's predicament that lies behind the novel's enduring appeal.

"If you take away the costumes and that period setting, it's a young girl trying to find love and a connection in a very dislocated world," she says.

For her preparation, Wasikowska collected a number of visual references "to form an image of Jane in my head".

She also went through the novel again, trying to find moments that were particularly pivotal to her character.

"The problem is that it's 500 pages of Jane's internal monologue. Everything we know and understand is what she's telling us directly.

"The challenge was keeping that intensity of thought and feeling in a film, when there are very limited chances to verbally express her."

Articulating those feelings when Jane does reveal her inner turmoil, however, proved just as tricky.

"There were a lot of scenes that were emotionally challenging and intense, in a language we don't use anymore," she says.

The trick, she discovered, was to say the words often enough so they no longer felt foreign.

"A phrase such as, 'I am not speaking to you through mortal flesh' is poetic and visual - but I had to make it sound real as well," says Wasikowska.

The costumes proved the last piece of the puzzle.

"They transform you," she says, simply. "They allow so little room for movement, you instantly understand that awful repression and restriction of the age. I don't know how women did it. It's so cruel and unnatural."

Although as a former ballerina who at her peak trained for 35 hours a week, Wasikowska is no stranger to discomfort. She was 15 when she made the switch to acting.

"I felt the dance world had become very much about achieving physical perfection," she says. "And at the same time, I was watching these films that were beautiful and inspiring to me. I realised I liked the idea of exploring the imperfections of life, and the things we do wrong."

In 2004, she made her acting debut in TV medical drama All Saints, followed by a series of short films. Then in 2008, she was cast in the acclaimed US TV series In Treatment, opposite Gabriel Byrne.

Since then, she's been seen in such movies as the Second World War drama Defiance alongside her Jane Eyre co-star Jamie Bell, a biopic about Amelia Earhart with Hilary Swank and Richard Gere, then in 2010 hit the big time with The Kids Are All Right, playing Annette Benning and Julianne Moore's daughter.

But with the acclaim has come the pressure to perform for the paparazzi on the red carpet.

"It's still part of the role, in a way - a public presentation," she says about facing the flashbulbs. "I try and pick outfits that are comfortable and there are so many brilliant designers, like Rodarte and Commes Des Garcons, that always have these fantastical clothes."

Looking to the future, she hopes to reunite with Fassbender at some point, but before that, she's promoting coming of age drama Restless and another period piece, Albert Knobbs, in which she returns to the 19th century alongside Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Then she starts work on Stoker opposite Nicole Kidman.

Though her star's rising ever higher, Wasikowska's determined to remain grounded and hopes to reflect on her formative dancing years to ensure this happens.

"We're so pampered in our life as actors, but I never take that for granted. Ballet dancers work just as hard, if not more so, with one per cent of the help."

Extra time - other famous Jane Eyres :: Ruth Wilson (2006) - The English actress starred in the TV mini series at the age of 24, earning best actress Bafta and Golden Globe nominations in 2007.

:: Charlotte Gainsbourg (1996) - Elle Macpherson and William Hurt starred alongside Gainsbourg's Jane in the motion picture adaptation directed by Franco Zeffirelli.

:: Zelah Clarke (1983) - Clarke was nominated for a 1985 CableACE Award alongside Timothy Dalton as Rochester.

:: Susannah York (1970) - Co-starred with George C. Scott in the American television movie.

:: Joan Fontaine (1943)- The three-time Academy Award nominee starred alongside Orson Welles and Elizabeth Taylor in the Forties film.

:: Jane Eyre is released in cinemas on Friday, September 9.